Monday, October 5, 2009

I get knocked down, but I get up again...

And then...slowly...slowly...we began to climb our way back up again. If it weren't for the 382,000 things up in the air right now, I might just be excited.

So -- Monday we got word that our offer was rescinded cuz of issues with our basement. The basement doesn't have any current problems, but because of the age of our house (its a ripe old 96) no one could guarantee how long the basement would go without having issues because of some bowing of the walls. (In two, small 6-8' wide sections.)

We cried.

Before Monday, we had made arrangements with our realtor to head out to see another dozen or so houses last Wednesday. You know, so as to have an actual place to sleep after October 27th. But Monday night the last thing I wanted to do is to see another freakin' house. I told Jay to cancel our appointment with our realtor. He wisely ignored me.

So, convincing me that we could still make an offer and have it be contingent upon the sale of our house, Jay and I saw thirteen more houses on Wednesday afternoon. Four actually made our short list. (Thank GOD.)

Friday night, Jay asks me if I want go see any of those four again. Our realtor could take us out either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. I told him to set it up. Whatever.

In the mean time, Jay called several basement dudes to come assess our "sitch" and to give us a quote on what it would take to fix it. Either we could negotiate with the buyers to split the cost, take the entire cost out of the purchase price or we could fix it ourselves so it wouldn't show up on a future inspection. The first two bids came in HIGH. $8000+ {AAAAACKKKKK!!!!} We were feeling a little less than sure that we'd ever move.

Jay calls back lady realtor to make our arrangements for Saturday and gets a recommendation from her of another basement dude. Her basement dude and another basement dude are scheduled to come out Saturday morning to give us estimates.

Now...here's where I must tell you that Jay worked overnight on Friday. Meaning he got home around 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. He napped for about two hours while I took the boys to swimming lessons, then got up to deal with said basement dudes.

On the way home from swimming lessons (which always make the boys tired and therefore very crabby) I call Jay to see if he'll be awake when we got home, and if he wanted me to pick him up anything for lunch.

"Yeah, go ahead and get me something. You know what I like. Oh, and by the way. Realtor lady confirmed. We're dropping the boys at my Mom's at 2:00."

Time check: 12:45.

Nap check: NONE.

Oh...and other Saturday morning news?

Our buyer came back and made a counter offer. OHMYHELLOHMYHELLOHMYHELL.

Their offer to buy (at the same price, with the same closing date) was contingent upon getting the basement walls fixed. By October 27th.

So...we go. We look at houses. We make notes as to what we don't like. Halfway through the afternoon?

I swear the heavens opened up and a light shown down upon the minivan in which we were riding. Angels sang. And it was good.

JAY'S CELL PHONE RANG.It was the realtor's basement dude. With a quote. For $5000. AND HE CAN GET IT DONE BEFORE OCT 27. WE CAN DO THAT.

Holy farking farkitude. We signed the counter agreement AND OUR HOUSE IS AS GOOD AS SOLD.

But wait...wait...the story doesn't end there. Ho no. Cuz, like, my life can't ever be NoRMAl.

We saw four houses that afternoon. The last two? TOUGH TIE. One was in a subdivision but had EVERYTHING we wanted and more. The second was more rural and had more land and a pool. What to do...what to do?

Well, if you're us, you throw "But don't forget this one has [blahblahblah]"s back and forth at each other while riding in the realtor's minivan until you get back to the park and ride where you left your car. And then when realtor lady says, "Well, let me know if you decide you want to put in any offers. You can get me all weekend on my cell," you say something like, "If we do, it'll probably be on the [blahblahblah] house." Cuz you've finally agreed. Kinda. And then your hubby would say something like, "And we probably won't call you until next week because I work a double tomorrow." Which would lead the realtor to suggest, "Well, do you want to write up an offer now? I think we should offer [blahblahblah]," which will make your eyes bug out because its quite a deal less than what its listed for. Then you'll say, "REALLY? ARE YOU SURE?!?" And she'll say, "Definitely." And she'll show you market analysis of every house that's sold in that subdivision over the past two years and what it sold for. And you'll see that she isn't crazy.

And then you'll go "OH MY GOD WE'RE WRITING AN OFFER!" which you won't go sit in an Applebee's and write up like NoRMAl people would, simply because your hubby has gotten two hours of sleep and you're afraid he might fall over into his mozzarella sticks.

And then you'll spend an agonizingly loooooong Sunday letting your poor children finally nap and then start to pack like wildfire, realizing that no matter what happens, nine years worth of life needs to be packed up and out of your house in twenty three days. All while your poor hubby STILL hasn't slept.

And, update? Since I started writing this I'm told that the sellers came back with a counter offer, still less than their listing price that we'll very gladly accept. And they can close by October 27.

Yay! (insert girly squeal here...) I'm so excited for you guys!!! Don't forget along the way to take lots of pictures -- you'll want to document all of it -- the good, the bad, the ugly! And yes, you can do it in 23 days -- we sold our first house, found our 2nd house and packed it all up in TWO WEEKS! You'll be fine -- just pace yourself. Do a little each day -- and know, the last two to three days will be madness. It's just gonna happen.